This week’s Bible text shows the story of a man who is incapacitated by powers that much of the world doesn’t even believe in…maybe you don’t either. Read it all at Mark 5:1-20 or an excerpt pasted here:

Mark 5:1-20 - 1 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes.*2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil* spirit came out from a cemetery to meet him.3 This man lived among the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain.4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him.5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.

In Biblical Terms, we see there are two ‘Spiritual Sides’. There is good…ruled by God. There is evil…ruled by Satan. Satan doesn’t rule alone. He uses demons (fallen angels) to accomplish his bidding. Man’s choices on earth align him/her with one of these sides. Choices to follow Jesus and His Way will bring us into God’s Kingdom and align us underneath His Authority and Protection (both now and forever). Choices to not go God’s Way align us with the kingdom of Satan. That leaves us underneath his authority and within his power.

Often, people do not realize these limited nature of this choices. We see or hope for a third way. We figure that we can choose the middle…not God, not Satan…just our own way. This is a quaint thought that happens to be dead wrong biblically. Read verses like Proverbs 14:12. Our way is nothing more than another way of denying God’s Way which leaves us aligned with the kingdom of Satan.

So, if your life is aligned with God’s Way you will be in a spiritual battle against God’s enemy. You will be protected and preserved by God’s Own Power. It may not be easy but it will be good. However, if your life is not aligned with God’s Way you don’t escape the spiritual battle. You simply fight it without God’s Power. You see, life is a spiritual war whether you realize it or not. Looking over the history and seeing the many battles and wars, folks seem to have better odds of surviving (much less thriving) when they realized they were in a battle.

The man in our Bible text today was helpless to defend himself against the war that went on within his own body. It probably wasn’t always that way. At some point, he chose what he thought was ‘his own way’. Then he did it again. Before you know it, the choice didn’t even seem like it was his any more. Ever had this happen? You, my friend, were/are in a spiritual battle.

My prayer for you today is that you would choose God’s Way. I also pray that you would be given eyes to see the spiritual battle’s within your own life. Finally, I pray that you would be given the tools of our warfare to fight the good fight (Ephesians 6).